Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Elk with 257 Wby?

Who has taken elk with a 257 Wby? What load,results? Any info appreciated. Thanks.

My friend has taken 6 elk, a mix of cows and bulls in Co with his 257 weatherby. He shoots the 115 Berger VLD, Max load of RL-25, fed 215 and Norma brass. Shots ranged from 75 to 450 yds. Some dropped to the shop others ran some and died. None got away. My friend is a good shot and does his very best to place the bullet properly.

Barnes makes a bullet that I would not be scared to use in the wtby on elk at all.. Moose either.

I killed my first 3 bulls with a 257 WBY. A spike, a 5 point and a big 6 point bull. All three were hit one time with a 100 gr. Hornady SP. Pre Interlock bullet.

The spike and 5 point didn't take a step and the 6 point made a few yards. Small sample with a bullet that is no longer available but it worked then and I would not hesitate to hunt elk with a lot of bullets available today.

Yep, I've done a few, maybe five or six elk with the .257 Weatherby. The 100-grain Hornady Spire Point Interlocked works very well. One shot does the job nicely.

God Bless,

Steve

My brother killed a cow elk with my .257 wby and 100 TTSX a few years ago, dropped in her tracks.

A buddy used my rifle to kill a safari worth of animals in Africa ranging from Vaalie Reedbok to Nyala with the same bullet/load and it mollywhopped everything.

My uncle killed many elk with a 250 back in the day. Lost several also, there are a lot better elk calibers, out there. A bad hit (which we all have done, if we shoot enough game, and some won't admit), and a high potential for a lost animal. In a perfect world or a perfect dream we make the perfect shot every time. Reality is a heartbreaker.

I shot a cow laying in her bed @ ~250yds. 100gn TSX @ 3600fps. She did struggle to her feet and fell hard @ the 2nd shot before she ever took a step.

My father in law has killed his last 9 elk with a 25-06, cant see why a 257 Roy wouldn't work.

Other than breaking bone and getting 2 holes, a gut shot is such, 460 wtby, 50 bmg, or 257 wtby. And sometimes actually, IMHO the faster the round, the gutshot ones may never take a step, at least with deer they don't at times.

lets see, then there is my scenario, double lunged 100 pound whitetail doe that ran almost 200 yards, for the large caliber crowd.... wiht my 50 bmg.....

I wouldn't hesitate a second to shoot an elk with 243. But my shot options and distances will be a bit different than with a 338 mag....

Have done it, with 100gr TSX. I hit it 3 times in/around the shoulder, because I had a good position and don't linger much on the trigger. Pass throughs all. 330 yards, IIRC. Don't have the Weatherby anymore, but I wouldn't pass on elk hunting because that's what I had to use.

Didn't Roy W. kill a Cape Buffalo with one...?

The best rifle for the job is the one you have in your hands.

I've been hunting whitetail with a moose tag in my pocket ... and not any danged chance of a moose showing up ... and I was carrying a smallish deer cartridge. Hey, moose shows up, I've got a gun and they die fine.

My last two bull elk were both 6X6s and both times I was hunting deer with my 7SGLC and 120Ballistics. Two shots, two very dead bull elk.

When I was guiding elk hunters, we had a game; guess what cartridge the hunter is using. Hell, none of us could ever tell the difference in the wound between a .25-'06 and a .300 WinMag.

Although we did have a nimrod once who thought it would be cool to use "solids" in his .375 H&H on elk. That didn't turn out so well; he pulled off a spectacular gut shot and it cost us having to disassemble a cow way back in a downed pole thicket. The poles were stacked up maybe four feet deep. What a horrible situation.

What it takes is a decent cartridge, an adequate bullet and proper bullet placement. The hunter is by for the most important aspect of elk hunting.

Blessings,

Steve

I'll buy that.

With a good bullet like the 120g A-Frame I use in my Roberts or a TTSX or bonded I wouldn't worry. With a standard soft point/tipped I 'd be concerned about close range/high velocity penetration on a bad angle.

(Yeah, I know, don't take the bad angle shots. Trouble is, sometimes the animal moves at the last second or it doesn't drop but you think you hit it - let it wander off perhaps never to be found and die an ugly death or take the follow-up shot offered?)

The 257 Roy is one of those cartridges that I have always wanted but can't justify, much like the 264 WM. I'm one of those guys that won't buy a hunting dog unless I can guarantee I have the time to work them. So, much like a high velocity flat shooting cartridge, I won't buy it unless I have the room to run it and, I don't. I did own a 25-06 and used it on large black bear with great success running 120 Hornady interlock HP's dosed with RL25. So I have had luck with it's little brother on fairly sturdy critters. I would dare say a 257 Roy running a stout, quality bullet would do in an interior Grizz quite handily in the right hands, let alone a elk or moose. With the velocity the 257 WM is capable of I personally would find anything under 115 grains a waste of time unless it was a mono metal, partition or bonded. Even in those categories I would only drop down to 100 grains. So, to answer your question a 100-120 Barnes, 120 Partition or a 115-120 bonded of your choice running a healthy dose of a slow burning powder such as RL25 with a magnum primer is as obvious a candidate as any.

Hmm. Wish I hadn't seen this thread. I was lucky enough to win a .257 in the RMEF drawing a couple of years ago. I never thought about using it on elk. Now that concept will keep me awake nights...

Loaded it with 69 gr. of RL 22 in a Barnes TSX BT 100gr. Gets a 3/4" group at 100 yards with that. Does an awesome job on coyotes and whitetail does.

Decisions, Decisions...

I don't know if Roy killed a cape with one but I do know Wally. Tabor did!

plainview,

I used my .257 Wby. a few years ago, to take a cow elk at a ranged 300 yards. One shot and it was all over. The Barnes TSX 100 gr. ahead of 72 gr. of RL22 is about all I use nowdays in the .257, for everything.

On that hunt, I was checked by the local DOW officer. He asked me a bunch of questions, including how far my shot was. I told him, 300 yards, measured. He asked if I had been comfortable taking that long a shot.
My buddy with me replied, "I've seen him make kills at 400 yards before. I'd say he's comfortable taking shots at 300."

I believe Roy Weatherbey took a rhino with one, though he may have done a Cape buffalo too. Will have to look at my references....

On a hunt last fall one of my hunting partners took a good Montana 6x6 with a single 120-grain Nosler Partition. The bull went about 75 yards after a double-lung hit, but the 75 yards was all steeply downhill and ended when the bull ran (literally) dead-on into a big Doug fir.

Oh, and the Partition exited. According to some that's not supposed to be possible with Partition, but there was a big-assed hole in the far side of the ribs.